From Autosport.......
Peugeot lead first major test
Tuesday, March 27th 2007, 08:44 GMT
Peugeot set the pace at the Le Mans Series' official pre-season test at Paul Ricard, which marked the new 908 HDi-FAP's first public appearance.
Sebastien Bourdais was the quickest of the five drivers sharing the sole 908. The double Champ Car World Series champion lapped in 1:43.705 on the second day, beating nearest rivals Rollcentre by 0.3 seconds. Only a small oil leak on Monday disrupted Peugeot's progress.
Rollcentre showed great promise in their first test with their newly-acquired customer Pescarolo chassis, with team regular Joao Barbosa proving to be Bourdais' nearest rival.
The latest Lola chassis also proved competitive - the Charouz team setting the third quickest time of the test with a 1:44.348 lap, one-tenth quicker than Bob Berridge in the older Chamberlain-Synergy Lola, and two-tenths clear of reigning champions Pescarolo's updated car.
The Bruichladdich Radical team topped LMP2 on 1:46.160, closely followed by the Barazi Epsilon team's new Zytek 07S and the Spanish ASM Lola.
The GT1 class saw a one-two for ORECA Saleen, with Stephane Ortelli and Soheil Ayari 0.206 seconds quicker than their teammates Nicolas Prost, Nicolas Lapierre, Laurent Groppi and Jean-Philippe Belloc, who took advantage of the opportunity to run a 24-hour race simulation in preparation for Le Mans.
The lead Larbre Aston Martin and the two Alphand Aventures Corvettes were within half a second of ORECA's pace.
Richard Lietz put the IMSA Matmut Porsche on top in GT2, ahead of Allan Simonsen's Virgo Motorsport Ferrari, but third-placed Marc Lieb had been quickest on day one in his Felbermayr Porsche before having to leave the test because of clashing academic commitments.
